Innocent Fears, Innocent Souls
by Zeldagirl367
Summary: Katsuragi Keima had never so much as glanced at me in all the years we'd attended school together. And suddenly, one day, all of that changed. My name is Yoshida Saeko, and I'm not quite sure what's going on, but I think I might be in love. Katsuragi/OC. Will eventually cover the goddess arc and possibly the time-travel arc as well.
1. The Girl in the Back of the Classroom

**Chapter 1: The Girl in the Back of the Classroom**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The World God Only Knows_. I just own Saeko.

* * *

My name is Yoshida Saeko. I am seventeen years old, one hundred and sixty centimeters tall, and I absolutely hate my life.

Why? Because it's _boring_, that's why.

Do you know how when you're a little kid, all you can think about is growing up? It's the only thing you want to do – you want to be older, taller, stronger, smarter, everything.

And once you get there, you realize it's not all it's been made out to be.

On my first day of high school, I was so excited; I was almost there, I thought, almost an adult. But as the years went by, high school life drained me. I had to work hard and discipline myself. I had less time to spend daydreaming or reading manga. Soon, I had to start worrying about final exams, career choices, universities...I didn't even want to think about what would happen once I had to start studying for university entrance exams.

That was when I realized that I had wasted my entire childhood wishing to be something I didn't really want to be.

I wanted to go back. I wanted to go back and stop wishing I was an adult, so I could start doing the things I didn't have time for now, so I could make up for all the fun I was missing out on.

In a way, I sort of wished my life was like a manga – the characters in manga were always so cute and interesting, and there was never a dull moment in their lives. Not that I'm saying I wish my life was chaotic, but for something to go wrong every now and again would be nice.

And maybe that's why I spend so much time reading manga in class instead of paying attention. I started doing it at the beginning of my second year, because, well, that was when I started to lose interest in all this "adult stuff".

And Katsuragi Keima got away with it, so why shouldn't I?

He always had some kind of game console in hand, and Nikaido-sensei barely ever said a word. She scolded him once or twice and smacked him over the back of the head occasionally, but he never got in any real trouble, and it didn't affect his grades either – they were perfect. So I figured that I could do the same thing…

Although I might have been able to get away with reading in class, my grades did not end up like Katsuragi's. They slowly spiraled into oblivion, and I could have pulled them back up if I really tried, I know I could have, but…

I just wasn't interested. I didn't _like _solving equations or translating sentences or learning history. I liked manga. So the way I figured...why should anything else matter?

Nikaido-sensei didn't always stand for it though. She took away my books a lot, and kept me after class to scold me a few times. I was more careful about it then – Nikaido-sensei was scary when she got mad. But I didn't get it. She let Katsuragi do it. It wasn't fair…

_Dorodorodorodoro, dorodorodorodoro, dorodorodorodoro._

My head snapped up, and there was a gasp from the middle of the classroom. It was a Tuesday morning, and Elsie Katsuragi's mobile phone had just gone off _again_.

She constantly had that thing on, and it always played that same dumb ringtone. Nikaido-sensei gave Elsie a stern look, and she quickly apologized.

I noticed Katsuragi tear his eyes from his game, and he looked at his sister quizzically. Those two were together constantly, but almost complete opposites. Elsie was friendly and fun to talk to, but her grades were atrocious. Everyone in the class liked Elsie. Katsuragi, on the other hand…

He was cold, and barely talked to anyone. If you tried to talk to him, he would respond with a series of grunts until you either gave up or he got sick of you and walked away. I know, because I'd tried. At one point, I had thought I might be able to befriend Katsuragi – everyone always called him "otamega", which I thought was a bit mean. I thought, we were both sort of otakus. I had my manga and he had his games...so for some reason, I thought we might be able to connect.

I was wrong, of course, and Katsuragi was completely uninterested in being friends with me. Even though I knew the same went for everyone he talked to, I still took it sort of personally.

Later in the hallway, I heard Elsie's cell go off yet _again. Dorodorodorodoro. _I paused and turned to see her quickly duck around a corner.

I frowned, and wondered what that was about, but Elsie was always acting weird, so I didn't think too much of it.

I went home that afternoon like I usually did and read manga in my room. I avoided my parents, ignored my homework, and put my headphones in my ears. My parents and I didn't talk much anymore. When my grades started slipping, they started to get really mad at me. They had tried taking away my manga, but I always just read it online. They had shut off my Internet connection and taken away my cell phone privileges, but in that case I would just borrow manga from the library and use the house phone if I really needed to call a friend. Nothing really worked.

So now, they just hated me. This was one of the reasons why my own life made me feel sick. It made me want to bury myself even deeper in manga, delve further into those magical and carefree worlds.

But tonight, I couldn't focus on that. I had this weird feeling that someone was watching me.

Out of paranoia, I had looked all around my room, and even in the closet. I was alone. I glanced out the window, but it was too dark to see. As I was about to open it and stick my head out, the doorbell rang downstairs.

I looked up. One of my parents answered it, and a second later: "Saeko! One of your friends is here for you!"

_One of my friends…_? I didn't have very many of those, and most of them would have told me if they were going to come over…

I rushed downstairs and went to the front door to see who it was, expecting it to be someone like Chihiro or Miyako, but when I came down the hall, I was surprised to see Katsuragi Keima standing on the doormat.

"Eh…?" I blinked. "Katsuragi-san…?"

Something was different about him. I frowned. _Oh – he's not holding one of his handheld games_. _How strange…_

Katsuragi met my gaze with a cool stare, then reached into his backpack and pulled out a book. He held it towards me. "I found this lying in the hall at school today," he said.

I took the book. It was the seventeenth volume of _InuYasha_, and it was mine. "Oh," I mumbled, turning it over and frowning. "That's weird...I didn't take this one out of my backpack at all today…"

"Yeah…" Katsuragi rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, I figured it was probably yours, so I thought I should return it to you."

I blinked at him, mouth opening, but no sound coming out. What was with Katsuragi? Being semi-social all of the sudden...especially after he'd been so snobbish to me when I'd tried to make friends with him before.

_Ah, wait. He just did a nice thing. I shouldn't be getting mad at him. _I swallowed the anger that had begun to rise and gave him a smile. "Uh...thank you very much, Katsuragi-san."

"No problem," he mumbled. "Well, see ya."

Katsuragi turned and let himself out. I stood there in front of the door for a few seconds, staring at the book. "Geez," I muttered. "How did you get out of my backpack…"

* * *

"Hey, Saeko-chan! Do you want to be in my band?"

I looked up from the first volume of _Kuroko no Basuke _to see Chihiro standing over me, grinning. I quickly marked my page and stared at her wide-eyed. "A band?" I repeated.

"Yeah! Don't you play the violin?"

"Well...I used to…" I had quit back in middle school because I couldn't stand the teacher, and hadn't touched my violin since.

"I thought it would be pretty cool to have an electric violin in the band," Chihiro said. "Don't worry about being bad. Elly is gonna play bass, but she's never touched one, and I'm gonna sing, even though I suck. Ayumi-chan and Miyako-chan are in it too. So, how about it?"

"Um…" I looked down at my lap. I didn't know Takahara Ayumi very well, but Miyako and Chihiro were my friends. "Well…"

Chihiro looked at me expectantly, tilting her head. "N...no thanks…" I said. "I don't think I can do that."

Chihiro looked disappointed. "Okay," she said. "Well, let me know if you change your mind."

Chihiro wandered back over to talk to Ayumi, and I was about to go back to reading, but Katsuragi caught my eye. He was turned around in his seat looking at me with a blank, analytical stare.

His gaze held me, and I wasn't sure what to do. Since he was looking at me I offered him a small smile, but he didn't return it.

Homeroom started and he looked away, picking up his game console. I let out a soft breath and went back to reading _Kuroko no Basuke. _

Later that day, in Kodama-sensei's class, I was called out. "Yoshida-kun," Kodama called out. "You read the next sentence."

"Eh?" My head snapped up. Kodama's face twisted into annoyance when he saw me holding manga under the desk.

"Again, Yoshida-kun?" Kodama stomped towards me, and I shrank back. Kodama scared me almost as much as Nikaido did. "That's the last straw!" he said, voice rising. "This time, I'm going to –"

Before Kodama could continue, Katsuragi stood up, holding his game console high in the air. "_Score_!" he shouted. "Yes! A perfect score!"

Everyone in the class turned to look at Katsuragi, and Kodama stopped mid-stomp and turned on his heel. "_Katsuragi-kun_!" he shouted, making everyone jump. "_You hand that over right now_!"

Kodama marched over to Katsuragi, snatching the console out of his hands. Katsuragi didn't even blink, and reached into his backpack to pull out another one.

Kodama was so mad that he forgot all about me and did nothing but yell at Katsuragi for the rest of the class period. At the end of class, Katsuragi turned around, looked straight at me, and winked.

_Huh? _I looked around, but everyone else around me had already gotten up and was leaving. He was definitely looking at me. _Wait a second...so he did that on purpose? Why?_

He didn't usually have outbursts like that in class; in fact, he usually played very quietly. So he must have done it on purpose so I wouldn't get in trouble…

Strange…

* * *

At the end of the day, I spotted Katsuragi starting home, game console in hand, and called out to him. "Hey, Katsuragi-san!"

He turned around and gave me that same, calm stare as I ran over. "Um…" I swallowed. "I just wanted to say thank you...for what you did in class today."

Katsuragi looked at me for a moment, then turned and went back to staring at his game. "Why do you never pay attention in class?" he asked abruptly.

"Eh?" I quickened my pace to catch up with him, frowning. "Why –"

"You're always reading manga under your desk," he continued. "You're very smart, so it's not like you don't understand the material. You just don't pay attention. Why?"

"What?" I scowled. "W-well you should talk, Katsuragi-san! You never pay attention either! You're always playing games!"

Katsuragi pushed his glasses up. "But my grades are stellar. Yours are...not."

I clenched my fists. "That's none of your business!" I told him.

"I see," he murmured vaguely.

I blinked and stared at him or a second, then gritted my teeth. "If you disapprove, then why did you help me?" I asked.

"Who said I disapprove?" Katsuragi suddenly looked away from the console and gazed at me with dark brown eyes. "It just makes me sad, is all. To see all your potential being wasted."

My eyes got wide, and I wasn't sure if I should blush or hit him. I did both.

"Geez!" I shouted at him. "You sound just like my dad! Why do you care what I do with my life? It's _my_ life! It doesn't affect you!"

Katsuragi rubbed at his cheek where I had smacked him. "Isn't this where you live?" he asked.

"Huh?" I looked up, and realized that Katsuragi and I had walked all the way to my house. My shoulders fell. "Y-yes," I mumbled, face turning red. I started down the walkway.

"It was nice walking home with you," Katsuragi called. I stopped in my tracks. "We should do it again sometime."

I whipped around to yell at him again, but he was already gone.


	2. Mangafied

**Chapter 2: Mangafied **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The World God Only Knows_. I just own Saeko.

* * *

I fell backwards onto my bed, hugging my volume of _Kuroko no Basuke. _What was that all about? Katsuragi Keima…

I clenched the book harder. Who did he think he was, lecturing me like that? I rolled over onto my side. What a jerk…

I closed my eyes, and for a second, saw Katsuragi's brown ones staring back at me.

My eyes flew open, and I shook my head. I was tired. I had stayed up too late reading last night, probably… and as for Katsuragi…

"_It just makes me sad," _he'd said. What did he have to be sad about? And geez, he was the one who wasted all his time playing video games! I was surprised he even paid any attention to me…

I got off the bed and went to my bookshelves. Sometimes, it made me happy just to look at them – to see all fifty-six volumes of _InuYasha _lined up neatly on the shelves, all twelve volumes of _Death Note, Maison Ikkoku, Yu-Gi-Oh!, _and _Salaryman Kintar__ō_. That wasn't all, either. In several stacks on the floor in the corner, I had assorted volumes of _Sangokushi_, _Detective Conan, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Hana Yori Dango_, and many, many more.

I had everything I needed already. This was all I really wanted. So why bother with anything else?

* * *

Katsuragi didn't look at me when I walked into homeroom. Not that I had expected him to, I was just glad he didn't...I guess. But if he had, I would have glared at him.

I sat down heavily in my seat, digging around in my backpack for a manga. Any one would do, even one I had already read. I just needed something to get me through the day…

I looked around the classroom. There were all sort in this class – jocks, delinquents, clique girls… I sighed, and looked at the volume I had chosen from my bag. Why couldn't people be more like the characters in manga? And why couldn't _boys _be more like they were in manga? Courteous and respectful and handsome…

I opened up my book and started reading until I heard Nikaido come in to start taking attendance. I looked up so I could listen for my name and –

"_Huh_?!"

I nearly fell out of my chair and gasped. Nikaido-sensei looked up at me with steady, purple eyes. "Is something wrong, Yoshida-kun?"

"Wha...wha…" I looked around. Why was no one else freaking out? Didn't they see it?

Everything around me had turned into...a cartoon.

Everyone's faces were made up of polygons and free of blemishes, and their eyes looked like they had grown to several times their original size. I couldn't breathe. Nikaido raised her eyebrows. "Yoshida-kun?"

"I...I…" I stood up with a loud clatter. "I need to...I need to be excused for a minute, Nikaido-sensei!"

"All right," she said, frowning at me. "Go on."

I walked to the door, unsteady on my feet, and continued to look around wildly. What was going on? Why did everyone suddenly look like they had jumped right out of an anime? Was I dreaming?

I started down the hall. Everything here looked like a cartoon too. Maybe I was dreaming...but...I remembered waking up this morning. And this was all very vivid for a dream…

On my way to the bathroom, I turned a corner and ran into someone. A cartoon hand landed on my shoulder to steady me. "Oops, sorry about that," a deep voice said. "Are you all right?"

I looked up, and squeaked.

The guy standing in front of me was tall and slender, with an oval face and long, dark blonde hair that was mussed and fell over one eye. He was gorgeous. He was _anime gorgeous. _For some reason, I was completely terrified.

"I-I'm fine!" I sputtered, then ran into the girls' bathroom.

I went instantly for the sink and ran the water, splashing some on my face. I closed my eyes and squeezed them shut. I let the cool water drip down my face. _Okay, _I thought. _I am going to count to ten. When I am done, I will open my eyes. And everything will have returned to normal._

I counted to ten, took a deep breath, then opened my eyes.

I reeled backwards at the sight of my cartoon reflection. It didn't work. Everything was still...animated.

But then, I took a closer look. _I'm not bad, _I considered. It was so different, I wasn't even sure I was looking at myself.

I swallowed and put my hands to my forehead. Okay...so things seemed to be stuck like this. I wondered if I was going crazy. Maybe this could happen if you read too much manga. I would look it up on the Internet when I got home.

I walked slowly back to class, still trembling, and sat down in my seat. I didn't touch my manga; I couldn't even bear to look at it right now. Not when everything around me looked like _this_…

No one else seemed to notice anything different...could it be that I was the only one who could see it? I really was insane…

It continued the whole day; just like I'd wished for, my entire life looked like a manga. When Kodama-sensei yelled at Katsuragi in class, cross marks appeared above his head. A giant drop of sweat appeared on Elsie's head when she couldn't answer a question right.

After lunch, I gathered up my things to head home, thinking I must be sick. Katsuragi Keima was standing outside the door, leaned against the wall, and glanced at me when I came out.

"Saeko-chan," he said. I jumped at hearing him call my name so informally.

I whipped around. "Who said you could call me that?!" I snapped. "I-idiot!" Katsuragi looked more or less the same in his manga form, if not a little more…

Katsuragi came towards me. "Did you do this?" he asked me, gesturing around.

I blinked at him. What was he pointing at? Did he mean… "D...do you see it too?" I whispered.

Katsuragi nodded. "I see it."

I bit down on my lip, looking at the ground, and secretly felt a little relieved. At least this meant I wasn't crazy… "Why doesn't anyone else notice?" I wondered.

Suddenly, Katsuragi's hand landed on my shoulder, and I looked up to find him giving me a steady, determined gaze from behind his glasses. "I don't know," he said. "But we'll figure this out." He smiled. "Don't worry, Saeko-chan. It'll be okay."

A blush rushed to my cheeks as I met his eyes. His words were strangely reassuring. I nodded, and Katsuragi gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Come on," he told me. "Let's not be late for class."

Katsuragi and I walked back to class together, and I found myself with an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. _What is that? _Even as I looked around, I didn't feel so scared. "_We'll figure this out." _I smiled a little bit. I wasn't alone in this after all...that was good to know.

And Katsuragi didn't take out his game console even once.

* * *

After class, I ran into the hallway to find Katsuragi waiting for me outside the classroom. "Do you have to go somewhere after school today?"

I shook my head. "Good." He faced forward. "You're coming over to my house."

My eyes went wide in surprise. "What?" My cheeks were turning red again. "Um…"

"What's wrong?" He turned to look at me, and I felt dizzy as his gaze met mine.

"Nothing," I mumbled, breaking eye contact and looking down.

We walked together all the way to his house in silence. I tried to think of something to say the whole way, but I couldn't really think of anything; and he didn't seem to mind the silence anyway. Besides, he was only inviting me so we could talk about why the whole world had changed into a manga…

We walked into what looked like a cafe, with a counter and a red-headed woman standing behind it. She looked up. "Ah, Keima-kun, you –" Her eyes landed on me and grew ridiculously wide with surprise. "Wha...a friend? Keima-kun, you brought home a friend?" She rushed over like a shot and held out a hand, grinning. "Hello there! I am Katsuragi Mari! I'm so glad to meet you!"

I shook her hand and opened my mouth to tell her my name, but before I could, Katsuragi slid his hand into mine. I gasped. "Okaa-san, this is Yoshida Saeko-chan," he said. "She's my girlfriend."

"_Ehh?!_"

I said it at the same time as Katsuragi's mother, and we both stared at him in shock. His mother's head slowly turned to me, and her jaw dropped.

"Hah...ah…" I tried to get words out, but Katsuragi had already started dragging me away from the door.

"We're going to my room," Katsuragi said. "Please don't disturb us."

"Y-your room?" Katsuragi Mari continued to stare at me like she didn't believe I existed. "What are you going to do there? Keima?! _Keima_!"

Katsuragi led me to his bedroom without a word, and closed the door behind him. It was very dark, and I could hardly see. Katsuragi flipped a light switch.

His room was about what I expected from a gamer like him; stacks of games everywhere and on shelves, game consoles on the floor, some plugged into one of six gigantic monitors hung on his wall. There were controllers lying around the chair in front of the monitors, as well as on a bar that wrapped around the chair.

I stared for a second, but then whipped around. "Why did you tell your mother I was your girlfriend?" I demanded.

"I didn't want to waste any time," Katsuragi said cooly. "If I had just said you were my friend, she would have questioned you more. This way, she was too shocked to say anything."

I rubbed at my cheeks, as though I could wipe the flush off of them, but I knew I couldn't. "So," Katsuragi said. "How did you make this happen?"

"I'm not sure," I said softly. "I was just sitting today, and reading, and I just thought...that I wished…"

I swallowed. I had never told anyone this before...was it really okay? Katsuragi continued to look at me expectantly. But this wasn't something I wanted to tell to someone like Katsuragi… "You'll think I'm dumb…"

"I won't."

My cheeks got even hotter. "I've never said this before," I mumbled. "But I wished...that my life was more like the lives people have inside manga and anime. And when I looked up, everything was…"

I couldn't look at him for a minute, half-expecting him to laugh at me, but when I peeked up, his expression hadn't changed. "I see," was all he said, and tapped his chin thoughtfully. "So if you do the opposite, do you think everything will change back?"

"Huh?"

"If you wish for your life to go back to the way it was," he clarified.

"Oh…" I hesitated. "I guess I could try…"

I squeezed my eyes shut. _I wish everything would go back to normal…_

I opened my eyes, and I was still standing in the middle of a cartoon. Katsuragi looked around as well. My shoulders slumped. "It didn't work."

"Hm…"

Katsuragi's hand wandered to his chin, and he paced past me to the center of the room. He didn't say anything for a very long time, and I started to feel awkward.

Then, he turned around. "Is it maybe because you don't _want _things to go back to normal?"

I stood rigid. "Wh-what?"

His eyes were suddenly hard on mine, and he stepped towards me. "You don't pay attention in class, you let your grades slip, you do nothing but read manga all day long...are you lying to yourself? Do you really want things to go back to the way they were?"

I took a step back. "What are you talking about? Of course I want things back to normal…"

For some reason, I couldn't say that with as much conviction as I wanted to. Katsuragi lessened the distance between us even more. "Saeko."

"_Don't call me_–!"

"Believe me, I understand," he interrupted, taking another step forward. "I know what it's like to despise the real world, to wish you lived in a different world...but…" His hand reached out and touched my cheek, and my breath caught in my throat. "I accept that I exist in this world, the real world. Why can't you?"

"I…"

Suddenly, he took my face in both of his hands and stared at me, eyes searching mine. I couldn't move. His face was so close to mine… "Saeko," he said softly. "What are you afraid of?"

_Wait a second!_

I gasped and shoved Katsuragi away from me, turning and scrambling for the door. He called after me. "Saeko, wait!"

I slammed his door behind me and ran straight past his mother. _I can't do it…_

I started running for home, but at the thought of my bedroom, filled with manga, I cringed. No, I didn't want to go home. So I just ran. I had no idea where I was running. But I wanted to go far away. Far away from Katsuragi Keima. Far away from this life.

As far as I could run...


	3. As Far As I Can Run

**Chapter 3: As Far As I Can Run**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The World God Only Knows_. I just own Saeko.

* * *

Somehow I wound up back at the school, but I didn't stop there. I went inside, ran up and up flights of stairs, all the way up until, finally, I reached the roof and came to a screeching stop.

I gasped and my knees buckled. What was I doing here? _What am I thinking?_

I struggled back to my feet and found myself looking at the edge of the roof, where Maijima lay below.

_As far from this life as I can get…_

Shivering, I took a step towards the edge. Katsuragi was right. I _was _scared. I was constantly scared, constantly living in fear as my future raced towards me at an inexplicable pace. I wanted time to just stop. I wasn't ready for it to move on. I wanted to stay behind, stay in this moment of my life where I could still be carefree…

I found myself staring over the side of the building, feeling incredibly dizzy. I couldn't do it. At this rate, I wasn't likely to amount to anything...I wasn't _good _enough to amount to anything. It was true, I could be smart if I really tried, but I didn't like any of the subjects in school. I couldn't be the adult everyone wanted me to be…

Tears slipped from my eyes. I was such a failure. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to let go of my manga, to start studying up on my English and History and Arithmetic and researching universities. It was no wonder my parents hated me so much…

Knees shaking, I stepped up until my toes were hanging off the edge. My body swayed, and I stared down at the endless drop.

_I'm just no good for anything…_

"Saeko."

I gasped, glancing over my shoulder. I hadn't heard Katsuragi come up to the roof, but he was standing there, gaze calm and collected as usual. "What are you doing?" he asked.

I turned around and faced the drop again. "Go away, Katsuragi-kun," I said, voice shaking. "Leave me alone."

"Saeko…you can't do this."

"I can too!" I shouted. "Y-you just watch me, Katsuragi Keima!"

"Saeko, come down! It's time to grow up!"

I gasped, and clenched my fists. Katsuragi continued. "You can't be a child forever," he said. "Sooner or later, you have to move on in life. You have to graduate high school and go to a university. _You need to be an adult_."

"I don't want to!" I snapped. "I...I'm _scared_, Katsuragi-kun!"

"Growing up is scary," he agreed. "But we all have to do it. You can't run from it."

I didn't answer, hesitating, and suddenly, Katsuragi's arm wrapped around my waist and yanked me down. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, staring up at Katsuragi kneeling over me.

My mind went totally blank, and my eyes burned. "I can't do it," I told him. "It's too much, I can't…"

"You can," he argued, taking my hand and pulling me to my knees. "It is scary, but you're smart. You can do it, if you just try. You can't hide in your own little world. Saeko." Katsuragi took my face in his hands again. "You have to live in reality. Even I know that…" He looked away. "I always say that reality is just a crappy game. But even a crappy game should be finished. If you quit...reality wins. Don't you see?"

I blinked, and his name escaped my lips on a breath. "Keima…"

He held my face tighter. "And I don't want you to quit. You have to continue. If not for your own sake, then do it for me."

"For...for you?"

"Yes." Katsuragi leaned closer. "I love you, Saeko."

My eyes widened, and Katsuragi leaned forward, and met his lips with mine.

I closed my eyes, blood pumping in my ears, my entire body rushing with adrenaline as Keima held the kiss, _our kiss_, and my heart pounded with newfound energy. I felt something inside me that wasn't there before, something I had been missing sorely. Color rushing to my cheeks, I opened my mouth and returned the kiss just as gently as he'd given it.

And that's how I fell in love with Katsuragi Keima.

* * *

My world returned to normal after that, and I left the roof ahead of Keima, since he said he had something he wanted to take care of. I spotted Chihiro leaving school a little late and suddenly felt the urge to do something. "Chihiro-chan!" I called, chasing after her. "Wait up!"

Chihiro turned and smiled at me. "Oh, hey."

"Well...you know that band you asked me about? I...changed my mind after all."

Chihiro's eyes lit up. "You mean you want to join?"

"Yeah!" I nodded. "If you still want me in it, that is…"

"Definitely." Chihiro grinned. "Awesome! That means we've got two guitarist, a bassist, a pianist, and a violinist. Now all we need is a drummer…"

I walked the rest of the way home with Chihiro, and for the first time in a long time, I felt really happy.

When I got home I fell onto my bed with a heavy sigh and grabbed my pillow to hug it. I felt so light, like I was floating, almost… _I'm in love…_

I sat up suddenly. I had homework to do...and oddly enough, I really felt like doing it. I gazed at my shelves full of manga and stood up, smiling.

Keima was right. Growing up was scary. But from now on, it was a challenge that I was going to face.

After dinner with my parents, which went way better than usual, I went back upstairs to continue my homework. It really wasn't so bad, once you started doing it – it was getting yourself to start that was the problem.

And I didn't even mind that much. Everything about today was suddenly fantastic.

"_I agree_!"

I looked up. _Who said that? _Was I imagining stuff again? I got up and walked out into the hallway to see if my mom was calling me, but she wasn't. I went back into my bedroom. Hm…

I let out a sigh, going over to my mirror and touching the little bags under my eyes. I guess I was tired. I was going to need to get to bed early tonight…

Suddenly, my reflection leaned forward onto its elbows and grinned at me. "Are you sure you're gonna be able to sleep? Or will you be too busy thinking about _Keima_?"

"Ah?!" I stumbled backwards, but my reflection in the mirror remained where it was, standing up straight and smiling cheerfully at me.

"Hiya!" it said. "What's up?"

* * *

After a couple of minutes, I stopped shaking and spluttering and went closer to the mirror. "Who...who are you?" I asked my reflection.

"Who are _you_?"

I blinked, tapping the mirror with my finger. It was still a mirror, but my reflection wasn't copying my movements. It was its own person… I stood back. "My name is Yoshida Saeko," I told it. "What...what are you doing inside my mirror?"

"Eh...I don't know, exactly." My reflection looked at its hands in confusion.

"Who are you, then?"

"Me?" She smiled at me again. "My name is Demeter. It's nice to meet you!"

I frowned, and turned away. "Am I going crazy again?" I wondered out loud.

"Hey!" My reflection was calling out to me again. "I'm over here, you know!"

I turned back around. "I don't understand," I said.

"Well…" Demeter crossed her arms, frowning. "I'm not really sure how I got here either. Last I remember, those Jupiter girls were going to seal away all the Weiss, and then…"

"Jupiter…" I repeated. "Weiss…?"

"Anyway!" Demeter held up a finger. "I guess I will explain what I _do _know! As I said, my name is Demeter! I'm a goddess!"

I blinked. "A...goddess?"

She nodded. "That's right. From Heaven." She smiled, and continued. "When I woke up, I was sharing a body with you, and a Weiss that had found its way inside you. I was weak and couldn't do anything then, but when you and Keima kissed, your love was enough to give me back some of my power. Plus, that nasty Weiss was exorcised. So, here I am!"

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, mouth hanging open. "Eh…" I swallowed. "I think I had better get some sleep…"

"Hey, Saeko," Demeter called out to me as I went to lie down. "You know, I'm sharing a body with you, so you can't walk away from me."

I grabbed an extra pillow and put it over my head. _Just ignore it...ignore it...think about something else…_

I closed my eyes. Demeter continued. "Saeko! Come on, Saeko, let's talk! I wanna figure out why I was revived here!"

"I'm ignoring you," I whispered to myself. "I'm ignoring you, I'm ignoring you, I'm ignoring you…" I started thinking about _Death Note _instead.

"Geez! Don't be such a child!"

I removed the pillow and sat up to glare at the mirror. "You're not real," I declared. "You're just a hallucination I'm having because I haven't been sleeping well recently."

"Nuh-uh." Demeter shook her head. "I told you, I'm a goddess. For some reason, I was placed in the human world by...someone. I'm not sure who. But if I figure out who _you _are, it might give me some clues."

"I'm just Saeko," I murmured.

"But you're in love, right? With Keima-kun?" Demeter smiled knowingly at my blush.

"S-so what?" I muttered. "That doesn't mean anything to you…"

"But it does!" Demeter clasped her hands. "Goddesses feed off of love. It's our main source of power. It's the reason I was able to become strong enough to come out and talk to you like this!"

I tapped my fingers on my thighs. "Well...how long have you been living with me?" I asked.

Demeter shrugged. "Who knows? Somewhere between a few days and a few months."

I scowled. "You know, that's a really big time difference."

She let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, you humans have such a confusing concept of time. I can't make any sense of it."

"Well, fine." I crossed my arms, head spinning. "Will you be quiet now so I can go to sleep? I've had a long day."

Demeter pursed her lips, but waved a hand. "All right, go on then."

* * *

As Demeter had predicted, I had a lot of trouble going to sleep, head spinning with thoughts of Keima-kun and goddesses from Heaven, so I picked up a volume of _Hana Yori Dango _and read it until I was sleepy.

In the morning, Demeter gave me a thumbs up in the mirror while I was doing my hair. "Good luck with Keima-kun today!" she said, winking.

I got to school early and chattered excitedly with Chihiro and Ayumi about our band, and then noticed Keima and Elsie come in. My heart started pounding. _Should I go say hello to him…? Or wait for him to say hello to me?_

Keima sat right down at his desk and pulled out his game console. I inched away from Chihiro and Ayumi little by little and kept glancing at him until he noticed me and looked up.

I smiled and waved. Keima blinked at me, and I thought his cheeks might have turned a little pink, but he didn't even smile back. He looked back at his game console and continued playing.

I lowered my hand, and felt like I'd just been stabbed.

Nikaido-sensei walked in and told us to get to our seats then, so I slunk to the back of the classroom and sat down, still looking at Keima. _Why is he ignoring me? _I wondered. _Did I do something wrong? Is he embarrassed? I don't understand…_

"_Well, you should go talk to him!_" Demeter said in my head.

Maybe...but he was the one who had kissed me first! He was the one who said he loved me…! Shouldn't he be the one trying to talk to me?

"_I'm telling you, Saeko, go talk to him._"

No way...it was too embarrassing… I tried to imagine what that conversation would look like.

_Keima-kun, what's wrong? Why aren't you speaking to me?_

_Saeko, I...think we should see other people._

_What are you talking about? You said you loved me, Keima-kun! You looked me in the eye and told me you loved me!_

_I'm sorry, Saeko-chan!_

"Ah…" I shook my head. That just sounded like something out of a drama. I definitely didn't want to do that in front of the entire class…

Demeter began humming to herself in my head. "_Saeko, who is that girl over there?_"

Eh? Who was she talking about?

"_The one over there, with the black ponytail._"

Katsuragi Elsie? Keima's younger sister?

"_I see…_"

Demeter sounded like she might be onto something, but she didn't say anything else for the rest of the class period.


	4. Out of Practice

**Chapter 4: Out of Practice**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The World God Only Knows_. I just own Saeko.

* * *

Keima didn't so much as look at me all day long, and I couldn't quite work up the nerve to talk to him myself, either. Demeter was quiet for most of the day too; but that was more of a relief for me, sort of, since I still wasn't sure if she was real or some imaginary friend my mind had concocted.

"Hey, Saeko-chan!"

I turned to see Chihiro running down the hallway towards me, waving. "I was thinking about having our first band practice after school tomorrow!"

"Oh...tomorrow?" I rubbed the back of my neck.

"What's wrong?"

"Well...I haven't touched my violin since middle school, so...I think I'll be a little rusty…"

Chihiro waved a hand. "Ah, whatever, it's fine. As long as you can make it. Can you?"

I nodded, and Chihiro ran off to class.

* * *

"What's the matter? Why aren't you walking home with Keima-kun?"

I paused and looked at Demeter in my reflection on the window of the shop I was passing. "Well…" I sighed. "Keima-kun didn't seem to want to talk to me today…"

Demeter tilted her head to the side. "You mean you didn't ever say hello to him?"

I scowled. "You were there all day, weren't you? Shouldn't you know?"

"I was busy."

"You were busy?" I scoffed. "What on earth were you doing?"

"Never mind that now. You should probably keep walking, people are starting to stare at you."

"Oh…" I looked around. A few people passing on the sidewalk were giving me weird looks. I guess it sort of looked like I was talking to a store window…

I kept on heading towards home, hugging my backpack. Maybe I could stop at the bookstore on my way home and buy the new volume of _Kimi ni Todoke_...that might make me feel better.

"_Look, Saeko! There's Keima-kun!_"

"Eh?" I glanced around, and sure enough, on the other side of the street, Keima was walking down the sidewalk with a console in hand as usual, with his younger sister next to him.

"_Now! Go and talk to him now!_"

I ducked my head. As if. Plus, Elsie was there… I couldn't go over and talk to him about what had happened with his sister standing nearby…

Still, I couldn't quite keep my eyes off of him, and watched him from the corner of my vision. He turned a corner, and without thinking, I crossed the street to follow him.

_Ah, what am I doing? _This was dumb...I wasn't _really _going to follow him all the way home, was I?

"_Hey, do you want to know what they're talking about? Maybe it's you!_"

I doubted that. Why would Keima talk about me to his sister?

"_I can help. Since I got a little of my power back, I can use it to heighten the power of one of your functions…_"

One of my...functions?

"_Here, I'll show you._"

There was a pause, and suddenly, the sounds of the cars and birds multiplied to ten times their original volume, and I gasped, hands slamming over my ears.

"_Ah, Saeko, you're useless. Look at Keima! Listen to him!_"

Listen to Keima? How could I? Slowly, I tried taking my hands off of my ears. The noise hurt for a second, but I got used to it, and as I stared ahead at Keima and his sister, I realized that their voices were echoing towards me, like it was the most natural thing in the world. I tuned the cars and background noises out.

"But, kami-nii-sama~," Elsie was saying. "If we don't keep looking for loose souls, then –"

"Look, I told you, I'm done hunting loose souls for a while," he growled. "We've captured plenty. How many is it now?"

"Eh…" Elsie thought a moment. "With Saeko-chan's, that makes ten."

I blinked at the sound of my name. _Loose souls? What on earth…? _

"Meanwhile, your so-called district chief has barely caught any," Keima snapped. "We can afford to take a little break. I have a lot of gaming to catch up on…"

They turned another corner and I stopped. After a second, my hearing returned to normal. I bit down on my lip. What was all that about, then? Demeter said nothing, even when I asked her if she knew what they had been talking about.

I turned around and started for home. They had been talking about me after all, even if it was only briefly. So Keima did still remember I existed. Then...why wouldn't he talk to me?

I got home and said hello to my parents, then ran upstairs to my room. I stood in front of the mirror for a minute, but all I saw was my reflection. I leaned forward and tapped the glass. "Demeter?"

No answer. I sighed and sat down heavily on my bed, rooting through my backpack for my textbook. Keima was ignoring me, now Demeter was ignoring me...my motivation from yesterday had quickly faded away…

I half-heartedly did some homework for a while before Demeter finally spoke up. "Hey, Saeko. Come over here."

I put my textbook down and went over to the mirror, frowning. "Where did you go?"

"Sorry, I went to think for a bit." She smiled triumphantly, hands on her hips. "I think I've got it figured out now."

"Got _what _figured out?"

"Who Katsuragi is." Demeter let out a sigh. "I'm not quite sure what my purpose is yet, but it has to have something to do with Katsuragi and that girl, Elsie." She crooked a finger, motioning me closer to the mirror. "Now, listen to me closely."

* * *

At five o'clock the next day, Chihiro, Ayumi, Miyako, Elsie, and I ran over to the Pumpkin Studio to have our first band rehearsal. We had all pooled some money and rented out a room for a couple hours.

Last night, I had taken out my violin and dusted it off and tried playing it a bit, but it didn't sound very good, and it had made my dad knock on my door to ask if I was okay.

So, I was a little bit nervous about practicing with the other girls, but they didn't have very much experience with their instruments either, so I guessed that it was probably okay.

And I also couldn't help sneaking glances at Elsie, especially after what Demeter had told me about her last night. I wasn't totally sure that I believed it. I mean, Elsie was a little bit strange, but a demon from Hell?

Demeter had explained, without even batting an eye, that Elsie was actually a demon and had signed a contract with Keima, and the two of them hunted down "loose souls" that had escaped from Hell together.

Huh?

Right now, I was trying not to think about it. Chihiro passed out some sheet music that I guessed she had gotten off the Internet or something, and we all dove right in.

My fingers fumbled on the notes and there were a few squeaks from my violin, but overall I didn't think I did _too _badly. We played a couple of songs, and Chihiro finished the last one with a big flourish of her arm. "Yeah!" she said. "How's that?"

"That was pretty good, huh?" Ayumi agreed.

"It's not as hard to be in a band as I thought," Elsie said, pumping her fist, and then she looked at me. "Your violin sounds pretty good, Saeko-chan!"

"Really?" I couldn't help being skeptical of that, but since they had all just picked up their instruments and I had some prior experience with mine, I must have been more in tune than they were.

"Hey, I recorded our session today," Miyako said, holding up a little tape recorder. "Let's listen to it when we're done."

"Yeah, let's hear it!" Ayumi said, going to pack up her guitar.

"But being able to do this much on the first practice, we must be geniuses!" Chihiro grinned.

We all packed up our instruments, and then went to an empty booth in the back of a cafe to listen.

The beginning didn't start off too well. And after it started, it sort of got worse. And then it got a little better towards the middle, but then quickly turned bad again. By the end, we had all put our heads down on the table.

"What...what the hell is that noise?!" Chihiro complained. "That's us?!"

"It's just mayhem!" Ayumi growled.

Elsie, frowning, picked up the recorder and held it close to her ear. "I guess you can't really tell when you're playing," Miyako said.

Elsie shook the recorder a bit. "M-my instrument isn't in here~~," Elsie wailed, holding it out helplessly towards Chihiro. _Demeter, you expect me to believe this girl is a demon…?_

"Elly, did you connect the shielded cord properly?"

"Sealed?" Elsie picked up her bass and held it in front of her to inspect it. "Is there a seal on here somewhere?"

Chihiro let out a heavy sigh, and I put my head back down on the table. My violin definitely didn't sound as good as I thought either. Most of the time it was buried underneath the two guitars, but when I did hear it, it was horribly high-pitched and out of tune.

We all went home feeling kind of low, and the next day at school, we gathered around Ayumi's desk to talk about it. "What the hell!?" Chihiro said, smacking her palms down on Ayumi's desk. "I didn't know being in a band was this hard!" She sighed. "I mean, the movies and manga usually start off with people jamming in the studio already!"

We discussed it for a while, and decided that what we really needed was a drummer to help us stay together. "You do the drums, Ayumi!" Chihiro said.

"No! My arms are gonna get bigger!"

"Well then, maybe Saeko can do it, and we can drop the violin."

"Huh?" My shoulders slumped. "I-I don't know how to play drums!"

"I wanna sing too~" Elsie whined.

Miyako started ripping up some pieces of paper. "Why don't we pull names?" she suggested.

We all grumbled some agreement, and one by one, we all reached into Miyako's box and pulled out a slip of paper. "Yes!" Chihiro proclaimed, holding up her paper. "I'm doing the vocals!"

Ayumi complained bitterly because she had drawn drums, and Elsie had somehow managed to draw the triangle. I had picked violin, much to my relief, but when Miyako reached in to grab the last paper, the one she pulled out said "vocals". "Huh?" Miyako said. "Two papers with 'vocals'? Chihiro, you cheated, didn't you?"

Chihiro put on the worst poker face ever. "I, I didn't cheat."

"Invalid!" Ayumi shouted. "It's invalid!"

After a long argument, we all decided to just stay on the instruments we already had, and then we talked about what songs we would play. We couldn't agree on that, either. Suddenly, Elsie's hand shot up. "I know a song we could play!"

She pulled out a skull-shaped recorder from her pocket and pressed a button on the side. The sound that came out sent shivers down my spine, and we all covered our ears. "It's a popular song from my childhood!" Elsie said, grinning.

After a while, we quit arguing about that, and started arguing about when we were going to practice. Ayumi was busy with track all the time, Elsie had to help out at the shop, and Miyako had cram school during the evenings. So we couldn't figure out a time to rehearse that would work for everyone, until Elsie suggested:

"How about making a light music club?"

We all liked that idea, and went to find a classroom we could use for practice. We settled on Kodama-sensei's classroom, but he just glared at us. "Unacceptable."

I blinked in surprise. Since he was the head of the arts clubs, we had to get his approval, but…

"What do you mean, a light music club?" he asked. "School isn't some playground!" He pointed to the calendar he had hanging on the wall. "It's almost time for term tests! Start studying already!" He turned around. "There are tons of you trying to make clubs from some short-lived idea! I can't recognize something like the 'card-battling club' or the 'voice actor studies club'!"

Kodama-sensei seriously scared me, so I was ready to back off, but Chihiro stepped forward. "Hey, don't bundle us up with those phonies!" she protested. "Our passion for band ain't some joke!"

Kodama-sensei looked at Chihiro steadily, then got a dark look on his face. "Then...show me how 'serious' you are." He turned around and pointed a finger at us. "If you manage to get one hundred percent on the English term tests, then I'll accept it!"

* * *

Considering that I'd spent most of the semester slacking off and reading manga beneath my desk, a perfect score was extremely unlikely for me. Even Miyako, the smartest out of all of us, had only gotten an eighty-two on her last test. Chihiro had gotten a sixty-eight, which wasn't bad – Ayumi had just barely passed with a thirty-five, and Elsie had failed with an eighteen.

Me, I had also failed; an overall score of thirty. And even now that I'd decided to start paying attention, I was still struggling.

So the next day, we tried to go to the studio again to practice on our own, but Ayumi couldn't make it, which meant a bigger bill for the rest of us. We went down to the cheaper studio then, and discovered why it was so cheap – no air conditioning.

After a couple of days practicing in the cheap, humid studio, we listened to our tape, and Elsie declared that we were getting better.

"You call this 'better'?" Ayumi scoffed, fanning herself.

Chihiro looked downcast. "Well, with five girls just getting together as a hobby...I guess this is as good as it gets…"

We continued listening, snacking on chips and sweets for a bit, until another voice broke in: "Um...excuse me…" We all looked up. "When do the term tests start…?"

My eyes got big. _Nakagawa Kanon_… Ever since she had become such a big hit, she rarely ever came to school.

"I...I do have to take the tests at least," she said, when we expressed our surprise. She glanced over at Chihiro, who was holding her guitar, and her eyes lit up. "A guitar?" she asked. "Is this a band?"

_Ah… _My cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as I looked at the tape recorder playing awful screeching noises. Chihiro grabbed the recorder and threw it at Elsie. "Oh, uh...n-no, this isn't anything. Erase it now!" she added under her breath to Elsie.

But Kanon didn't seem to mind and smiled. "Having people in the same class playing music too...makes me happy…" Then, she turned to us. "It's still a secret...but I'm going to be here at the Mai-High Fest this fall. If you'd like, please come listen."

Chihiro suddenly gripped her guitar tightly, looking down. "Then…would you like to come listen to our sounds too, Kanon-chan?" she asked.

"Eh?" _But didn't we just hide that recording of us from Kanon-chan?! _"Chihiro-chan –!"

"We'll be at the Mai-High Fest too!" she declared, before anyone could stop her. "We'll see you on the stage, Kanon-chan!"

And so, we had no choice.

But we needed a day to practice daily, so that meant we would all have to get perfect scores on our English tests...all of us. Even Elsie and me.

As we were bemoaning how we would manage it, Elsie stood up. "Oh, I know of someone who might help us!" she said.

"Who?" I wondered out loud.

And so, that is how Ayumi, Chihiro, Elsie, and I came to be sitting in the empty classroom with Katsuragi Keima.


	5. Awkward Tutor

**Chapter 5: Awkward Tutor**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The World God Only Knows_. I just own Saeko.

* * *

Elsie dragged him into the room very much against his will, and my heart began pounding hard. Since we had kissed, Keima hadn't said so much as a word to me; Demeter told me it was partly my fault as well, since I refused to go over and talk to him myself, but seeing as he was the one who had said the L-word to me…

"K-Katsuragi?" Ayumi said, and I noticed she had turned red for some reason as well.

"Why are you here?" Chihiro asked.

"We don't have very much time until the test," Elsie explained, "so to get a one hundred percent, it'd be best to ask someone who always gets a one hundred percent!" She put her fist in the air. "Let's have kami-nii-sama be our tutor!"

Keima's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he grabbed Elsie and started hissing wildly in her ear about something. Ayumi, Chihiro, and I all looked at each other.

Ayumi turned her back on him, blushing. "I, I don't have to have you to teach me!" she declared.

"Y...yeah," Chihiro agreed, also turning around. "This band's our problem."

I looked at the two of them but stayed where I was, unable to meet Keima's gaze. I wrung my hands nervously. Well...I did need help, but...this would just be embarrassing…

Elsie begged him for a minute, and Keima let out a heavy sigh. "Then...just for an hour!" he consented finally.

Chihiro and Ayumi both turned around in surprise. "In one hour, I'll tell you the necessary information!" Keima said. "But whether you can score a one hundred percent is all up to you!"

_Geez, Keima, you don't have to sound like such a snob… _I looked away. It was hard to believe that this was the same boy who had kissed me on the roof of this very building…my cheeks turned red at that recollection.

"Hey, Yoshida Saeko!"

I gasped, and my head shot up. Keima was looking at me with that hard stare of his, and I realized that he had already started writing on the board. "Are you paying attention?"

I stumbled over my words, turning red all the way up to my hair. "Y, yes!" I managed finally.

"There," Keima said, putting the chalk down. "Those are all the problems for the next term test."

Ayumi, Chihiro, and I stared at the board in shock. Keima went on to explain. "If you consider Kodama's personality and the material for the test, that's about it. You remember this, and you'll probably get at least a ninety."

_So...this is how he has perfect grades while never paying attention in class? _

"Studying in school is much to inefficient," Keima said. "If you isolate what's really necessary, there are less test-related tasks than the number of gal games coming on sale this month!"

There was a moment of silence, and Keima turned back to the board, picking up the chalk again. "Now, the points to watch out for to get the other ten percent…"

"W, wait, wait!" Chihiro said, scrambling for a paper. I snapped out of my awestruck daze and started rooting around for my notebook as well. Keima paused and looked annoyed.

As we were hurrying to write everything down, I noticed Keima eyeing the three of us with a thoughtful gaze. For a moment, I lifted my head to meet his eyes, but he quickly looked away.

"Kanon-chan!"

I looked up again and realized that Nakagawa Kanon had walked into the room and escaped our notice, and was gazing closely at Keima now. "What's wrong?" Chihiro asked.

She turned to us and smiled. "I was just wondering what everyone was doing," she said. "So you were studying for the test…"

Elsie invited her to study with us, at which Keima looked horrified and tried to protest, but she put on her glasses and sat down with us. Keima looked even more exasperated. I looked around. There were five of us...and Keima said he only had an hour...I guess that wasn't a whole lot of time to learn much of anything if he had been planning to work with us individually…

I gripped the edges of my chair, and stood up. "Er…" I looked at the door. "I think...I just remembered that I have to go."

"Eh? You're leaving, Saeko-chan?" Elsie tilted her head.

Ayumi stood up. "B-but what about the test?"

I picked up my bag and my notebook. "I'll just study on my own," I said, smiling a little. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

Before anyone could say anything else, I ran for the door, and quickly closed it behind me.

* * *

"_Why did you do that, Saeko? That was your chance!_"

I tried to ignore Demeter's complaining as I walked home, wondering how on earth I was going to learn so much material in so little time. I had managed to write down the stuff Keima had put on the board, but…

I stared at the ground. The others had a better chance of passing than me anyway at this point, so it was best to just let Keima give all his time to them and not waste any on me.

When I got about halfway home, though, I was starting to wish I hadn't left after all. It had been my only real excuse to talk to Keima without feeling embarrassed...but it was too late now. Oh well…

I went home and went to my room, telling myself no manga and no anime all night tonight. I had to study. I would feel awful if I ended up being the reason we couldn't start our club…

I tried hard to study. I really did. I even brought the textbook to the dinner table and into the bath with me. But...English was just so _hard_…

_Focus, focus! _I told myself, sitting down at my desk. I'd been studying for hours, and I still didn't feel like I was making progress. I groaned and put my head down on my book.

The doorbell rang downstairs, and my mom called up to me shortly after to come downstairs. I dragged myself out of my room, wondering what it was now.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Keima standing in the doorway again.

It was incredible deja vu, as my mind flashed back to when he'd appeared at my front door to return one of my manga volumes he'd found at school. He rubbed at the back of his head, looking embarrassed.

"Um…" I blushed, and looked away. "Katsuragi-kun...what are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" He held up his English textbook, which he had been carrying under his arm. "I'm here to help you study. You left so quickly today you didn't get as much out of the session as the others did."

"You didn't have to…"

"Look, do you want to pass the test or not?" he grumbled, staring at the wall.

I led Keima to my room with my head ducked down, trying to hide the heat in my face. I peeked at my mirror as I passed, and Demeter gave me a thumbs up.

We sat down on the bed, and Keima opened up the textbook. "So," he said. "What don't you understand?"

I took out the notebook where I had written down everything that was going to be on the test and pointed some things out for him. He sighed. "Then, most of it," he mumbled. I ducked my head sheepishly. "Okay," he said. "Let's get started."

* * *

Keima stayed at my house for most of the evening. We stayed on track, but by eleven, we were both starting to yawn. "It's getting late," Keima said, getting up and stretching. "I guess I should go home soon." He looked at me. "How are you doing now?"

"Fine." I looked at the textbook. Keima had gone over mostly everything with me, and I could say honestly that it had helped.

Keima stuck his hands in his pockets. "Good," he mumbled. "I guess...I'll go now."

He grabbed his textbook and started for the door, but without thinking, I jumped up and grabbed his arm. "Wait, Keima-kun," I said. He glanced at me in surprise.

I hesitated, but after a second, leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you," I said softly.

His cheeks turned bright red, and he left quickly.

I rubbed at my arm. _Was that too much…? _

"Ah," Demeter said from the mirror. "No, Saeko, that was great. I can feel more of my power returning…"

I sat back down on my bed. Despite myself, I felt good too. I'd finally been able to talk to Keima… I guess the reason he had never said anything before was just because he was embarrassed.

"Demeter…" I crossed my arms over my stomach. "Is all that stuff you said about Elsie and Keima true?"

"You bet," Demeter said. "And after spending some time with the Elsie this week, I'm sure of it."

I laid back, pushing my textbook onto the floor. "She's really a demon, huh...and Keima, he really hunts down these 'loose souls' with her?"

"That's right."

I turned that over in my mind for a minute. It was hard to imagine Keima doing something like that, but...it did match with what I'd heard them talking about on the street earlier this week…

"I want to help," I decided.

Demeter snorted. "I think it'd be a little hard for you to do that."

"Why?" I sat back up and looked at her.

She examined her nails absentmindedly. "Well, it's really not something you can just up and talk to him about. Like you'd be able to, anyway."

I scowled, but Demeter was right – I probably wouldn't be able to work up the nerve to talk to him without a good excuse, like needing help with English today. I sighed. "But…"

"Oh Saeko, you're so cute," she said, grinning. "All you really want is to get closer to Keima-kun."

"Shut up," I mumbled.

* * *

Even with all the studying Keima had helped me do, I only managed to get an eighty on the mid term. Ayumi, Chihiro, and Miyako all got perfect scores, but I didn't feel too bad since Elsie only got a forty-five, so at least I wasn't the only one.

However, Kodama-sensei proclaimed that he was "touched by our efforts", and let us have a clubroom. I noticed he was in an unusually good mood, and wasn't sure why until Elsie tapped my shoulder and pointed up to a framed piece of paper he had hanging on his wall.

I squinted. It looked like a term test that someone had gotten a ninety-nine percent on, and when I looked closer, the name at the top read…

_Keima Katsuragi?_

I felt my cheeks turn red. _Keima didn't do as well since he was so busy helping us…_

"Awesome!" Chihiro said, and she and Ayumi high-fived. "Let's have practice tomorrow!"

I smiled my agreement, but I still felt bad. Especially after Keima had spent all those hours helping me at my house…

As we all went outside to start home, I spotted Keima sitting on a bench nearby the school, staring up at the sky. I slipped away and carefully approached, hoping he'd look up and say something to me first, but he seemed to be totally lost in thought. I scuffed my shoe on the ground. "Um…" I cleared my throat. "Keima-kun."

Keima finally saw me, and raised an eyebrow. "If it's about the test, don't mention it," he said blandly. "I was doing it as a favor to Elsie."

I lost all ability to speak. Well, there went my excuse to talk to him...I tried to make words come out of my mouth. _Think of something else to say, think…_

Keima looked at me expectantly, reaching into his bag to pull out a game console. "Was that all?"

"Uh…" I nodded, and even though he had said not to, I felt I should say it anyway. "Thank you, Keima-kun."

He sighed, turning on his game. "When did you start calling me that?" he mumbled, then added, "Yoshida-san."

All the air rushed from my lungs, and my skin began to burn. I closed my mouth, choking on a lump in my throat, and then quickly turned around, ducking my head and walking away.


	6. Heavenly Arrival

**Chapter 6: Heavenly Arrival **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The World God Only Knows_. I just own Saeko.

* * *

In just a couple of days summer vacation came around, and after the closing ceremony I started straight for home. Chihiro was having a get-together at her house with the members of the band plus some others, but I had declined. I was tired. Plus, now that all my tests were done with, I could finally catch up on reading manga again.

Since I'd started trying in school, my relationship with my parents had improved some as well. That made living at home a little bit easier, at least...and I didn't feel like I had to stay shut up in my room all day anymore.

Demeter didn't bother me so much about Keima anymore, especially not after he'd been so cold right to my face. It still hurt a little bit to think about that. _I guess he didn't mean what he said after all… _Maybe he had just said it to stop me from jumping…

I sighed. It wasn't fair…

I was looking forward to diving into my manga this afternoon and forgetting about Keima, but Demeter appeared in my mirror and bugged me until I came over to talk to her. "I've been sensing something strange today," she said.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure." Demeter pursed her lips, looking thoughtful. "I think it originates from Hell. It's not Elsie, though."

I sighed. "Well, you said this 'loose soul' stuff was none of my business anyway."

"I know, but…" Demeter trailed off. ""There's another new thing, as well. Something not from Hell." She tapped her chin.

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Go out and walk around a bit so we can look."

My shoulders slumped. "Do we have to?"

"Come on, Saeko! It could be important!"

I let out a heavy sigh. I guess Demeter didn't really ask for much from me, but it did seem a little pointless, since there wasn't a whole lot we could do even if we did find something. "Fine," I said. "We'll go out and look tomorrow. But just let me relax today, okay? I'm tired from all those tests…"

Demeter frowned at me, but grudgingly agreed. With a relieved sigh, I grabbed my new volume of _Kindaichi Case Files _and opened it up for a well-deserved read.

* * *

"Geez, Demeter, where are we even supposed to be going?" I mumbled, shoving my hands in the pockets of my shorts. It was busy for Maijima, roads full of cars and trucks, and the sidewalks were pretty crowded too. It was hot, too.

"_Just keep walking! I'll tell you if I see something suspicious._"

I rolled my eyes. This was annoying...I turned a corner. Maybe I could go to the bookstore. Inazumart usually had a good manga selection…

I walked towards it, waiting for Demeter to say something, but she was quiet. I couldn't help feeling a little cheated. Why couldn't I just be a normal teenager who didn't have a strange alternate personality living in her head?

I went inside and started for the escalator, and spotted the game store on my way there. _I wonder if Keima is here…_

Eh, that was stupid of me to think...that kid was probably holed up in his bedroom right about now…

I reached the top of the escalator and was going to head to the right, but without giving me any say, my feet turned and moved quickly to the left. _What? _I tried to stop, but couldn't. _Demeter!_

"_We're going this way now._"

I scowled. Demeter was steering us towards a coffee stand on the corner, where there was a girl in a school uniform and black hair ordering something. Demeter walked us right up to her and stopped. _What are you doing?_

The girl turned around and jumped. I couldn't see her eyes behind her hair, but she was shaking, and holding a cup of coffee in each hand. I tilted my head.

She stayed where she was for a minute, then jerkily stepped around me and started back towards the escalator. Demeter turned me around and immediately began to follow her. _Hey, Demeter! Tell me what's going on!_

"_We're following that girl._"

She went over to the escalator and stood at the top for a minute, like she was waiting for someone. Demeter moved me closer, but then stopped a few feet away. Someone with brown hair was coming up the escalator towards her, and as the face came into view, I gasped. _Keima? He really was here?_

He looked surprised at seeing the girl at the top of the escalator. The girl turned, as if to walk away, then suddenly whipped around and smacked one of the cups of coffee against Keima's head.

Keima yelped, and the girl backed away, holding her arms against herself. I frowned. Why did all of her movements seem so unnatural? I wondered if Keima had done something mean to her as well…

"What the heck is wrong with you?!" Keima said, turning on the girl. "What do you think this money's for?!"

The girl turned around and ran.

Demeter sprung off the ground and sprinted after her, and I felt energy spout into my legs. My breath started coming out in short gasps, and my vision began to blur for an instant before we caught up with the girl and Demeter stopped.

She had paused at the railing and was heaving, and suddenly I found words being forced out of my mouth: "Who are you?"

The girl turned, and her eyes lifted to stare intelligently at me from beneath her hair. They narrowed. "Excuse me?"

I clapped a hand over my mouth. _Demeter! That was rude!_

The girl shrank away from me as well, ducking her head and hunching her shoulders again. I swallowed, regaining control of my voice. "I'm sorry," I said, bowing quickly. "I...I'm not sure why I said that."

"Hey, Tenri-san!"

The girl looked up, and flinched. I saw Keima running towards us and wanted to leave before he saw me, but Demeter kept my feet planted firmly on the ground. _When did she get to be able to control my body?_

"Eh?" Keima paused. "Yoshida-san?"

I clenched my fists at hearing him call me that, and he looked between us in confusion. The girl straightened herself again, and glared at Keima with a cold stare. "Katsuragi-kun," she said, the tremor gone from her voice. "Do you realize how much effort it took to go to your house yesterday, despite my flawed sociability…?"

Keima blinked in surprise. I looked at the floor. _This girl was at Keima's house…?_

"You don't know, do you?" the girl asked. She sighed. "And you tell me you 'don't remember'...I've never been more hurt by what you said."

"T-Tenri-san?" Keima stuttered. "Is that really you?"

The girl, called Tenri I suppose, narrowed her eyes menacingly at Keima. "But it's fine," she continued, ignoring his question. "I don't intend to be saved by you."

"_Just as I thought…_"

Keima looked positively dumbstruck. "I don't understand…" He looked at me. "And Yoshida-san... what are you doing here?"

"D…!" I stumbled over the syllables. "D-don't call me that!"

He blinked at me. "But I just said…"

"Nii-sama!" came a familiar call. "The sensoorrr!"

Katsuragi Elsie came racing towards us, wailing, as that strange _dorodorodoro _sound came out of her hairclip. Tenri glanced at her and backed towards the railing. "That 'doro doro' sound again," she muttered. "What is that...?"

And then, she lurched backwards and vanished off the side of the balcony.

Keima and I both rushed to the edge, but when I looked over, she was safe on the ground, heading towards the exit like nothing at all had happened.

"_That's all I needed. Let's go, Saeko, before Keima starts asking you questions._"

I turned and started for the exit, and when Keima whirled around and called "Wait!" after me, I broke into a run.

* * *

Demeter took complete control of my body then and ran, dodging around objects and people like it was nothing. Even though she was doing the running, I could still feel my body running out of breath. _Demeter, slow down!_

"There's something else I need to look at," she muttered, using my mouth.

_It can wait! _I was screaming it in my head, but the words didn't come out of my mouth. _I want to know what that was all about! _

Demeter let out an annoyed sigh and slowed to a walk, then gave me back control of my body. I gasped for breath, drawing the stares of several people on the sidewalk. "_It was like I thought,_" she said. "_I could sense something here that was from Heaven, like me._"

I started across the street, swallowing. Did that mean another goddess?

"_Yes,_" Demeter said. "_I think so...although she seems weak._"

I frowned. So that other girl, Tenri, had a goddess living inside her too. Did that mean that Tenri's goddess could sense Demeter as well?

Demeter snorted derisively. "_A small fry like her? No. She did not detect me._"

I rolled my eyes. Well, she had probably given it away when she had walked up and been so rude to her…

Demeter said nothing to that, and I paused on the street corner, wondering where I should go now. I still wanted to go to a bookstore. There was supposedly one on the next block over, and I really wanted to get volume fifteen of _Katekyo_ _Hitman Reborn!_...

"_Geez,_" Demeter muttered. "_You're always so obsessed with this kid's stuff…_"

I closed my eyes for a moment, clenching my fists. Manga was not "kid's stuff"...

Then, my eyes opened, as I thought of something. If Demeter had just found a goddess, then what was the other thing she had sensed from Hell?

"_Something else altogether...probably another demon from the Loose Souls Team…_"

I sighed. In that case, it really made no difference to me…

I poked around in the bookstore for a while and then started home, already feeling exhausted from all that running Demeter had made me do. Another goddess, though...that kind of made me want to go and talk to this Tenri person. It would be nice to meet someone who understood what I was going through…

"_No. I don't want her to know about me._"

I blinked in surprise. What…? Why not? I doubted Tenri's goddess was _bad _or anything…

"_Don't tell her about me, Saeko. If you try, I'll stop you. It's too risky to run around announcing my existence to people we've just met, especially since I'm still not sure why I was revived here._"

I grudgingly consented to that and kept on towards home. Way to crush all hopes I had of gaining another friend, Demeter…

A hand closed around my arm, and I found myself being whirled around to face, yet again, Katsuragi Keima. Why wouldn't he just leave me alone? He looked out of breath, and his fingers tightened like a vise. "Hey," he said. "Do you know what that was about? I saw you talking to Tenri-san."

I flinched. _He calls _her _by her first name… _"I-I don't know," I said, shaking my head vigorously. "Let go of me."

Keima looked down, and released my arm. "You've been acting really strange lately," he said. "Are you sure you don't know something?"

I made the mistake of looking him in the eye, and I stuttered.

Demeter suddenly took over and stepped away, frowning. "You will leave me, Katsuragi Keima," she said, in a voice stronger and more confident than one I had ever used. His eyes went wide in surprise. "I don't want anything to do with you anymore, you callous man. Go away and stay away!"

"Eh?"

Before Keima could question me, something long and purple shot out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Keima's neck. "Hellooo," a woman's sing-song voice said. "I've found you already!"

The thing snapped backwards and dragged Keima with it, and I stumbled back in alarm, regaining my body. "K-Keima-kun!"

Keima clutched at his neck, and I looked up. _Demeter...is that the other demon you were talking about? _She was dragging Keima away by his neck, despite his kicking and shouting.

"Ah…" I started running after, despite myself. "Keima-kun!"

They moved so fast that they vanished from view within instants, and I had no clue where I should turn. What was that? Had Keima just been kidnapped…? And I had just stood there and not done anything about it? I buried my face in my hands. _I'm so useless…_

"_Come on, Saeko! Stop standing there moaning to yourself and let's go!_"

Demeter? I felt her push herself into control and started moving my legs in the direction the demon had taken Keima. Power rushed into my calves and the world started rushing around me, just like it had been earlier at the mall. My lungs were burning again. What was this?

"_I am heightening the power of your legs._"

I was moving so fast…! I couldn't breathe…

"_Do you want to save Keima-kun or not?_"

We were whipping through the city now, around houses and trees and down the next sidewalk until –

We crashed into another person and I dropped to the ground, sucking air into my throat. _Geez, Demeter…_

I glanced up to gasp out an apology to the person I'd crashed into, and saw that it was the Tenri girl sitting on the ground in front of me, her black hair hiding her eyes again, and a piece of paper clutched in her hands. Elsie came up running from behind her and skid to a stop. "Saeko-chan?" she said in surprise.

I tried to speak but my lungs still felt like they had just gone through an air compressor. Tenri scrambled to her feet. "Saeko-chan," Elsie said. "Thank goodness! You have to help! We just got this!"

Elsie snatched the paper out of Tenri's hands and showed it to me. I read the words at the top – _A Notice for Public Execution._

My eyes widened. Were they talking about Keima? Elsie grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. "You have to help us save kami-nii-sama!"

"I…"

Tenri started away, seeming anxious, and before I could answer, Elsie grabbed my hand and pulled me along. "Let's hurry!"


	7. Hot and Cold Pursuit

**Chapter 7: Hot and Cold Pursuit**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The World God Only Knows_. I just own Saeko.

* * *

We ended up at Maijima Seaside Park, where we spotted the demon hovering in midair by the Akanemaru. Keima was tied up to the bowsprit, legs kicking and squirming as he dangled dangerously above the water. Tenri, Elsie and I ran to the dock, with Tenri in the lead. "K...Keima-kun!" she called, huffing.

The demon looked up, grabbing a handful of Keima's hair. "Just watch, missy," she said to Tenri, as Keima complained loudly. "We're going to drag this man you hate through pain and torment."

I grabbed the railing, leaning over. _Demeter…!_

"P...please stop…" Tenri said. "I don't hate Keima-kun at…"

"But the sensor says otherwise," the demon interrupted. "It's because of this man that you have a gap in your heart!" Tenri flinched, and the demon continued. "And in that gap lives a loose soul!"

_Demeter, what should I do?_

As if in answer, I felt her presence seep into my limbs, but she didn't do anything for a moment. Elsie had risen into the air behind us, to be level with the other demon. "Nora-san!" she called. "Please stop!"

The demon whipped around to look at her and frowned. "Elsea?! What?! Trying to get in our way?!"

"The person you're holding is my partner!"

Nora looked surprised. "Partner?!" she repeated, then glanced at Keima. "This 'thing'?"

Demeter suddenly gripped the railing tighter, and she climbed up on top. Tenri looked up. "Ah...Saeko-san…?"

My legs sprung off the railing and we dove head-first into the water.

It was cold, but Demeter didn't seem to care, opening our eyes and swimming towards the bottom of the ship. Just as I was beginning to wonder if Demeter knew we needed air, she paused by the ship and suddenly a burst of energy flew into my legs, and they propelled me upwards, out of the water, until the next thing I knew I was hanging onto the railing of the ship, feeling exhausted again.

Nora was still jibing at Elsie, currently grinding her boot into Keima's head. I gritted my teeth and made my shaking arms pull me onto the ship. I looked up. There was a man standing just behind the bowsprit, tall and very elegant, with wavy blonde locks. I struggled to my feet. _Maybe that's Nora's partner? _

Without thinking, I stumbled towards him and leapt onto his back, wrapping both of my arms around his neck and clinging to his waist with my legs. He staggered, clawing at me. "Ack...Nora-san!"

"Eh?" Nora stopped whatever she was doing and glanced at the man. I clung to him as tightly as I could as he tried to throw me off. "Ryou, you idiot!"

She zipped over and something wrapped around my stomach and yanked me into the air, and I found myself hanging in the air, staring right at Nora. She tilted her head, looking bored. "Who the hell is this?"

"Eh?" Keima had twisted himself around to look. "Saeko-san?"

Beneath my fear, I got a warm feeling in my stomach. _He called me by my first name…_

"What a waste of my time…" Nora started to wave a hand, as if to dismiss me, when Demeter took over again and kicked out at her, catching her full in the side.

She stumbled back in surprise and I was released, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Demeter scrambled up, in complete and total control now. As our fist went flying towards Nora, I felt so small and insignificant that I doubted for a moment that this body even belonged to me.

Nora caught the fist, eyes wide with alarm. "Ryou, do something!" she shouted.

Demeter whirled around and caught Ryou in the face with our foot, thwarting any attempt he had at stopping us, and was still in time to block Nora's blow.

Over Nora's shoulder, I saw that Elsie had freed Keima and deposited him on the ship's deck, and he was now running towards us. Demeter ducked and dodged out of the way, and Keima shoved Nora over the railing, sending her to the water with a splash.

"Ah…" Ryou ran to the railing, looking completely at a loss as to what he should do. "Nora-san!"

Keima grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the dock. Demeter gave me control again and I stumbled, legs still feeling weak.

Tenri ran towards us. "K-Keima-kun!"

"Kami-sama," Elsie said, landing on the dock beside us. "Are you okay?"

Keima kept a hold on my arm, then reached over and grabbed Tenri's as well. "Come on," he said. "Before she gets out of the water!"

* * *

Once we were a good distance away from the dock we stopped for breath, and Tenri bowed her head. "I'm sorry…" she said. "It's my fault that Keima-kun was…" She hunched her shoulders. "I...don't want to...cause any more trouble...I'll be...going home…"

There was a pause, and a soft glint from beneath Tenri's hair. "...No, Tenri," she said suddenly, voice stronger. "These three have driven away the duo quite remarkably."

_Huh? _I blinked. She was talking to herself in the third person… Tenri lifted her head. "Let us have Katsuragi-kun protect us!"

Elsie and Keima looked puzzled. _That must be Tenri's goddess talking… _I swallowed, wondering again if I should say something about Demeter, but Demeter stayed quiet inside me, so I guessed she still didn't want that.

There was some loud screaming from behind us, and we all looked up. "Ooh, Nora-san is going to be angry with me…" Elsie moaned, clutching at her cloak.

"Let's go hide at the school," Keima said, with a wayward glance at Tenri. "Then we can talk about this…" He looked at me, narrowing his eyes. "And you're coming too, Saeko-san."

"Uh...but…" I tried to protest, but he had already grabbed hold of my arm and was dragging me behind him. I looked at Tenri, but her goddess seemed to have retreated back inside her.

We let ourselves into the school and found an empty classroom, where Elsie produced a mirror and placed it beside Tenri so her goddess could talk.

Keima sat down with Tenri and the goddess, and Elsie took me aside. "Are you okay, Saeko-chan?" she asked. "You were really brave back there!"

_It wasn't exactly me… _Elsie began manifesting little dolls shaped like Keima out of her cloak, and I watched in awe. She looked up at me. I swallowed. "Actually…" I rubbed my foot on the ground. "The reason I did that was because…"

The words stopped dead in my mouth, and Demeter forced her way up, no matter how hard I tried to stop her. "Because I didn't want Keima-kun to get hurt," Demeter finished lamely, tone very bland.

Elsie didn't seem to notice, and glanced over at Keima. "Nii-sama," she said. "If this goes on, nii-sama will also be in trouble! Nora-san seems like she'll keep punishing nii-sama 'till the loose soul comes out, so…"

Keima waved a hand dismissively. "There's no way she would go as far as to claim my life," he declared.

Ironically, there was a loud popping sound, and one of the dolls Elsie had made shriveled up. Elsie showed it to Keima. "The raiment doll was done in," she said.

Keima hunched his shoulders, sheepishly correcting himself. "She's already demonstrating her lethal intent!"

Elsie looked at the ceiling. "I wonder how long the other decoy dolls will last."

"At this rate, even heading home would be dangerous!" Keima looked more annoyed than scared, however, and I picked at the wood on the desk. _That demon is really going to kill him, huh… _I glanced at Tenri, who was whispering at her reflection. _Because she has a loose soul inside her?_

"We could just have Nora catch another loose soul instead of Tenri's!" Keima suggested.

Elsie looked horrified by the idea. "Eeeeeh su, such a thing…"

"It's okay if they find out later!" Keima snapped. "Let's first stop her from targeting me!"

Elsie pursed her lips and began to pick at her fingernails. "All the loose souls we caught were already submitted…furthermore, if I did such a thing, they'd be angry at me…"

Another doll popped, and Elsie jumped. She bit her lip. "So...someone else might eventually have a loose soul…"

Suddenly, she grabbed her broom and ran to the balcony. "I'll go check out Haqua's place!"

"Elsie, wait!"

Keima's eyes turned on me, and he pushed his glasses up. "Take Saeko-san with you," he said.

"Eh?" Elsie glanced at me. "Why?"

"Why?" Keima clenched his fists. "She's probably confused as hell! Explain this stuff to her!"

_Well, I'm not that confused, really… _But I didn't say anything. Elsie sweatdropped. "Why can't you do it, nii-sama?!"

"Because I said so! Now go!"

Elsie let out a heavy sigh and took my arm, dragging me out onto the balcony. "Okay, Saeko-chan…"

She slid her arms beneath mine and lifted me off of the ground without waiting for my say in the matter, and I instinctively drew my legs closer to my body. We were getting really high up, but for some reason, I just wasn't that surprised or afraid. Maybe my body had been completely desensitized to danger for today…

"Wow, Saeko-chan, you're so brave!" Elsie commented. "Nii-sama freaked out the first time I flew with him!"

I sighed, and Elsie went on to explain the things Demeter had already told me. I tuned her out, watching Maijima whip by below us. I hoped Keima would be okay…

And what was all that about the goddess wanting Keima to protect her? Shouldn't it go the other way around?

"_That goddess is very weak,_" Demeter told me. "_She hasn't regained much power yet. Tenri is currently unloved, whereas you and Keima have already kissed._"

I felt myself blush.

"Ah, there's Haqua's house!" Elsie said suddenly, dipping downwards. She set me down on the ground and then touched her own feet down, running towards a cute little house on the corner of the block. She knocked on the door. "Haqua!" she called. "Haqua, are you there?"

The door opened, and a somewhat large woman, maybe in her fifties stood in the doorway, smiling calmly at the two of us. "Hi there!" she said. "Are you here to see Hac-chan?"

"Yes!" Elsie nodded vigorously. "It's urgent!"

The woman invited us inside, black puffy hair bouncing with each one of her heavy steps, and she had us sit down in the living room. "Hac-chan!" she called. "Some friends are here to see you!"

A girl poked her head into the alcove, giving Elsie and me a quizzical look. "Elsie? What are you doing here?"

Elsie jumped up. "Haqua, do you have any extra loose souls?"

"Wha…?" Haqua frowned. "Extra loose souls? Why would I…"

"It's really important!" Elsie begged. "Kami-nii-sama is in danger! We need a loose soul right away…"

Haqua crossed her arms. "I-I don't have one!" she said. "Besides, even if I did, giving it to you would be completely against –"

Elsie collapsed in a heap on the floor and burst into tears. I sat there awkwardly, picking at the fabric on the sofa.

Haqua let out a heavy sigh, as though this was something that happened often. "Elsie, cut it out." She glanced at me. "Who is this you brought with you?"

Since Elsie didn't seem to be about to introduce me, I stood up and bowed to her myself. "I am Yoshida Saeko," I said. "I'm a friend of Elsie's from school. It's nice to meet you."

Haqua spared me a disinterested glance, and then looked at Elsie. "Elsie, what's going on? Why do you need a loose soul so badly?"

"Nora-san is trying to kill nii-sama!" Elsie blurted out.

"Eh?" Haqua looked surprised. "But doesn't she know he's your buddy?"

Elsie nodded. Haqua frowned. "Then we should report this, shouldn't we? No, they wouldn't get here in time…" She sighed. "I'll contact the other devils in this district and see if anyone has one."

Elsie sniffled. "Thank you, Haqua!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Haqua lifted a hand and pressed on her skull hairclip – which, I noticed, was just like Elsie's. "Oi, this is District Chief Haqua here…"

Elsie let out a relieved sigh, plopping down next to me on the couch. "Haqua can help for sure," she said.

"You...really care about Keima-kun, huh?" I asked her softly.

"Hm?" Elsie looked at me in surprise. "Of course! He is the Divine Conqueror, after all!" She held up a finger. "And, he's the reason I've been able to capture so many loose souls! He's the best buddy a demon could ask for!" Elsie's grin got wider, and her cheeks flushed in happiness. "He usually does all the work, and I don't get to help out very often, which is why I have to do this!"

"I see…" I tapped my fingers on my knee.

"Oh…" Elsie paused, and then added, as if it was an afterthought, "And if he dies, I'll die too."

"Huh?"

"See?" Elsie lifted her head and tugged on a thick, black collar that was around her neck. "Nii-sama has a collar just like this. If nii-sama dies, or does not hold up his end of our contract, this collar will remove both of our heads."

"What?" I swallowed anxiously. "That seems a little harsh…"

Elsie just shrugged. "In Hell, we take contracts very seriously."

Haqua cleared her throat, and we both looked up. "Well," she said. "It seems like no one has any extra loose souls."

"Aww!" Elsie jumped up. "Are you sure?"

Haqua nodded. "Sorry, Elsie...you and Katsuragi will just have to buy time for a bit until I can contact the Hades government." Haqua took the end of her cloak and some kind of screen appeared on the other side, which she began tapping on. "I'll report this right away, and then they should –"

"No, Haqua!" Elsie grabbed Haqua's arm and pulled it away from the screen. "Don't report it!"

"Eh?" Haqua frowned. "Elsie, you know how Nora is. If we don't do something, you and Katsuragi will…"

Elsie stepped away and tugged on the end of her own cloak. "Nora-san is just being irrational right now," she murmured. "I'm sure she'll come to her senses once this is all over...but I don't want her to get in trouble!"

"Ugh...Elsie –"

"Please, Haqua!" Elsie looked at the floor. "Nora-san will be angry with me…"

"She'll be angry with –" Haqua started to repeat her, incredulous, but then stopped and let out a sigh. "Oh...fine, Elsie. You're too nice for your own good…"

Elsie thanked Haqua, and then dragged me outside. "Why did you do that?" I asked. "You should have let Haqua report Nora…"

Elsie shook her head. "Nora is my sempai," she explained. "So...it would be wrong for me to get her into trouble. Besides, I'm sure she's just feeling angry because nii-sama pushed her into the water...she'll get over it soon."

I blinked at her and opened my mouth to protest, but I couldn't find the words to counter her argument. She smiled at me cheerfully. "Okay! Let's go back and find nii-sama!"


End file.
